Man confesses to killing 60-year-old who was painting over gang graffiti, police say
A 24-year-old man has been arrested after he confessed to fatally shooting another man who was painting over his gang’s graffiti on the side of an ice cream shop in Northridge on Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Jamal Jackson told police that he and other gang members had tagged the wall earlier Saturday and were offended when they saw men painting over it, according to homicide Det. Gabe Bucknell. Jackson got out of his car, walked up to the painters and shot into the group with a semiautomatic “Uzi”-style handgun, police said.
The name of the 60-year-old victim who died was not released.
“He broke down crying and was very remorseful,” Bucknell told The Times of Jackson.
A man who was killed Saturday in a Northridge strip mall shooting was painting over gang graffiti on the wall of a business at the time, police say.
The victim had been hired to paint over “gang graffiti” on the wall of Northridge Ice Cream on Van Alden Avenue near Parthenia Street, according to police.
While he was doing so, a white sedan approached the group and a man got out and shot the victim multiple times in the chest, according to the LAPD. Three others were shot before Jackson hopped back into his car and sped off, police said. None of the victims appeared to be in gangs, Bucknell said.
The area where the shooting occurred is a contested area, where two gangs are fighting, Bucknell said.
Jackson was arrested in Ontario on Sunday, by a task force comprised of local and federal law enforcement agencies.
The Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday identified one of the four suspects involved in a shooting Saturday afternoon that left one man dead and three others wounded in a San Fernando Valley parking lot.
Officers also found Jackson’s white Toyota Camry, which matches the suspect vehicle in the Northridge homicide. The car was taken in as evidence.
Jackson has previously been arrested numerous times in Los Angeles on domestic violence charges as well as illegal firearm possession and grand theft auto charges, according to court records and Bucknell.
Jackson spent 210 days in jail on a misdemeanor domestic violence case and also had a restraining order violation on his record, Bucknell said.
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